S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl vs S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is an FPS horror game from GSC Game World (2024) while S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat is an FPS horror game from GSC Game World (2009).
Quick answer: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat has the higher Metacritic, 80 to 73.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
What each one is
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is filed under FPS and Horror. In contrast, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat under FPS and Horror.
Enter the Chornobyl Anomalous Zone — a vast open world where anomalies, mutants, and rivals stand in your way. Explore, scavenge, and try to survive in this brutal and dangerous land. Evolving with every update, now overhauled and crowned with UPDATE 2.0.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat is a 2009 first-person shooter survival horror video game developed by GSC Game World for Microsoft Windows. It is the third main game released in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of video games, following S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, with the game's narrative and events following the former. It was published in the CIS territories by GSC World Publishing in October 2009, before being released by Deep Silver and bitComposer Games in North America and the PAL region in February 2010.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Yevhen "Skif" Martynenko, a veteran of the Ukrainian Marine Corps , has returned from a 3-year deployment in an unspecified conflict. He awakens to find his apartment has been destroyed by an anomaly that has mysteriously appeared outside of the Zone, leaving an unknown artifact in its wake. Looking to earn money for a new home, he is smuggled into the Zone by a scientist, Professor Hermann, along with a piece of technology called the 'Scanner' that… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Call of Pripyat received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . The game was lauded for its well optimized engine with relatively few bugs and glitches, for example, GameSpot said, "The most stable S. T. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.1/10 | — |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (80%, 138,669) | — |
| Critic aggregate | 73/100 | 80/100 |
| Price | $41.99 | Unknown |
| Install size | 160 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | Untested |
| Released | 2024 | 2009 |
| Developer | GSC Game World | GSC Game World |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl vs S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylFPS horror gameS.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of PripyatFPS horror gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylOpen World, FPS, Post-apocalypticS.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of PripyatNo descriptive tagsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylMetacritic 73S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat ✓Metacritic 80Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl138,669 reviews · 3 add-ons · 160 GBS.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat—Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl$41.99S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of PripyatUnknownRead live from Steam and subject to change.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Metacritic 80)
Where they differ
Open WorldFPSPost-apocalypticSurvivalAtmosphericSingleplayer
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB / AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB / Intel Arc A750 | — |
| Minimum CPU | Intel Core i7-7700K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X | — |
| Minimum RAM | 16 GB | — |
| Install size | 160 GB | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl · S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and 0 for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
If you like one, also try
Common questions
How different are S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat in scope?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has drawn 138,669 Steam reviews, ships 3 add-ons and installs in 160 GB. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat lists little scope data.
Is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat has the higher Metacritic, 80 to 73. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.